Specialized/Fjällräven Thermo Anorak

The Specialized/Fjällräven Thermo Anorak is the item of bikepacking gear you never knew you needed. Super warm, lightweight and turns into a pillow, it's an incredible piece of kit if you're doing the sort of adventuring where it's appropriate. But it's extremely expensive and decidedly niche – perhaps a bit too niche for our best cycling gilets buyer's guide.

> Buy the Specialized/Fjällräven Thermo Anorak for £195 from Specialized

If year-round bikepacking and adventuring are your thing, then a packable thermal layer such as the Specialized/Fjällräven Thermo Anorak could be a godsend for rest stops or for when the mercury really drops while you're riding.

It's made from lightweight, silky polyamide fabric, and filled with a polyester insulating material.

There's an insulated hood, press stud-fastening neck, a zipped kangaroo-style front pocket that the jacket packs into and a drawstring at the hem to cinch it in. Counter-intuitively, the sleeves are short and quite loose.

Designed as part of the Specialized/Fjällräven adventure/urban collaboration, this definitely sits more naturally at the adventurous end of that spectrum. You could pack it into a work bag for chilly commutes, but with its short sleeves and quite loose smock style, it looks more in place at a wild camping spot or beside a bonfire than when you're popping to the supermarket after work.

It packs down very easily into its front pocket (which also has an internal mesh sleeve pocket for a mobile phone) but the resulting package is better suited to a pannier, rucksack or roomy tail pack rather than a rear pocket or compact saddle bag. However, the package does work well as a pillow, which makes it ideal for adventurous overnights.

It was incredibly quick and easy to put on, pulling over the top of whatever kit I already happened to be wearing thanks to the roomy unisex fit (the size Large worked well for me as a roomy option for my high-street 14-16 frame) and short sleeves.

This meant that it quickly became a favourite for longer rides where I had some sort of bag with me, as a cosy rest-stop layer that kept out the elements long enough for a pause, and it also dried very quickly.

Cinching in the drawstring at the bottom kept draughts out, and the hood was cosy too, with its high collar. It was easy to keep it on when riding too, on those occasions where I'd overestimated the temperatures.

I'd have liked some sort of soft lining to the kangaroo pocket, though, to increase its usefulness as a handwarmer pocket.

At this price, there's no ignoring the fact that the Specialized/Fjällräven Thermo Anorak is definitely a premium piece of kit. Of the insulated jackets we've tested, only the mega-versatile MAAP Equip Primaloft Down Jacket came in more expensive when George tested it, at £250.

Others like the Stolen Goat Olive Women's Adventure Down Jacket that Anne reviewed, has versatile zip-off sleeves and costs £160, and the much more compact Albion Insulated Jacket 3.0 that Hollis tested is a fiver more than that at £165.

The Endura GV500 Insulated Jacket, with its superb Primaloft Gold insulation, costs only £149.99 and Patrick rated it highly when he reviewed it for off.road.cc.

That said, none of these options – which are jackets rather than pullovers – are quite as adventure-focused as the Specialized/Fjällräven Thermo Anorak, which aims to live up to the wilderness pedigree of the Fjällräven brand and looks the part too.

When compared with some of the other insulated options available, this does feel like a lot of money, but if you have the dosh and you want to really feel like an adventurer, while also having a handy pillow option along for the ride, the Specialized/Fjällräven Thermo Anorak is well made, does just what it sets out to do and does it well, and is a very handy piece of kit for adventurous longer rides. Though for this quite hefty price, I'd have liked a soft lining to the kangaroo pocket.

Verdict

A warm and effective outer layer for adventurous rides but very expensive. A cosy lining to the pocket would have been good